LA PAZ, Bolivia (AFP) — Supporters of Bolivia’s president rallied outside his palace on Thursday, giving the embattled leader some political breathing space as authorities made more arrests in a failed coup that has shaken the country. Economically troubled country 1 day ago.
The Bolivian government said 17 people had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in an attempted takeover of the government, including army chief General Juan Jose Zuniga and former navy deputy chief Juan Arnaiz Salvador, who were detained the previous day.
The South American nation of 12 million people watched in shock and bewilderment on Wednesday as military forces appeared to turn against the government of President Luis Arce, taking over the capital’s main square with armored vehicles, repeatedly firing a small tank at the presidential palace and firing tear gas at protesters.
Cabinet member Eduardo del Castillo did not elaborate on the other 15 people arrested, other than to identify one civilian, Anibal Aguilar Gomez, as a key “theoretician” of the aborted coup. He added that the alleged conspirators began plotting in May.
Riot police guarded the palace gates and Arce, who has been struggling to manage the country’s foreign currency and fuel shortages, stepped out onto the presidential balcony as his supporters flooded the streets, singing the national anthem and cheering as fireworks exploded in the sky. “No one can take democracy away from us,” Arce said.
The Bolivians responded by chanting: “Lucho, you are not alone!” Lucho, Luis’s common nickname, also means “to fight” as a Spanish verb.
Bolivian President Luis Arce raises his fist surrounded by supporters and media, outside the Government Palace in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Carreta)
Associated Press reporter Karen Chamas reports on the failed coup attempt in Bolivia.
Shortly after the Bolivian government declared the brief attack on the presidential palace an attempted coup, army and navy commanders were arrested and presented as the top officers in Wednesday’s mutiny.
Analysts say the surge in popular support for Arce, even if fleeting, offers him respite from the country’s economic quagmire and political turmoil. In a deep competition with the popular former president Evo Morales.his former ally who threatened to challenge Arcee in 2025.
“The president’s management has been very bad. There are no dollars, no gasoline,” said Paul Coca, a political analyst based in La Paz. “Yesterday’s military action will help his image a little, but it’s not a solution.”
Some demonstrators gathered outside the police station where the former general was being held, chanting demands that he be sent to prison. Dora Quispe, 47, one of the demonstrators, said: “It is shameful what Zuniga did. We are in a democratic country, not a dictatorship.”
Military police block the entrance to Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Before his arrest late Wednesday, Zuniga claimed without providing evidence that Arce ordered the general to carry out the coup attempt in a ruse to boost the president’s popularity. This has raised speculation about what really happened. Opposition senators and government critics joined the chorus, calling the rebellion a “self-coup” – a claim strongly denied by Arce’s government.
“What we saw is very unusual for coups in Latin America, and it raises red flags,” said Diego Von Vacano, an expert on Bolivian politics at Texas A&M University and a former informal adviser to President Arce. “Arce appeared to be yesterday’s victim and today’s hero, defending democracy.”
Some Bolivians said they believed Zuniga’s claims.
“They are playing with the people’s intelligence, because no one believes it was a real coup,” said 48-year-old lawyer Evaristo Mamani.
Former lawmakers and officials, especially those allied with Morales, have echoed the allegations. “This was a set-up,” said Carlos Romero, a former Morales government official. “Zúñiga followed the script as he was told.”
Soon after the military maneuvers began, it became clear that any attempt to seize power had no meaningful political support. The uprising ended bloodlessly at the end of the working day. In an extraordinary scene, Arce fought fiercely with Zúñiga and his allies face to face in the square outside the palace before returning inside to name a new commander of the army.
In a statement he made in Paraguay on Thursday, US Deputy Secretary of State for Administration Rich Verma condemned Zuniga, saying that “democracy remains fragile in the hemisphere in which we live.”
The short-lived rebellion came after months of escalating tensions between Arce and Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president. Morales has made a dramatic political comeback since mass protests and a deadly crackdown prompted him to resign and flee in 2019 — a military-backed ouster that his supporters described as a coup.
Morales has pledged to run against Arce in 2025, a prospect that has rattled Arce, whose popularity has declined as the country’s foreign currency reserves dwindle, its natural gas exports decline, and the collapse of its currency peg to the US dollar.
Morales’ allies in Congress have made it nearly impossible for Arce to govern. The cash crisis increased pressure on Arce to cancel food and fuel subsidies that drained the state’s financial resources.
Defense Minister Edmundo Novello told reporters that the coup attempt led by Zuniga had its roots in a private meeting held on Tuesday where Arce fired Zuniga over threats by the army chief on national television to arrest Morales if he joined the 2025 race.
But Novello said Zuniga has given officials no indication he is preparing to seize power.
“He admitted to committing some transgressions,” he said of Zuniga. “We said goodbye to him in a very friendly way, with hugs. He will always be by the president’s side,” he said of Zuniga.
Hours later, panic gripped the capital, La Paz. Zúñiga surrounded the government headquarters with armored vehicles and his supporters, sending Bolivians into a frenzy. Crowds gathered at ATMs, lined up outside gas stations, and looted grocery stores.
The country’s divided opposition rejected the coup even before it became clear that it had failed. Former interim president Jeanine Anez She was detained for her role in the 2019 ouster of Morales.He said the soldiers were seeking to “destroy the constitutional order,” but appealed to both Arce and Morales not to run in the 2025 elections.
A supporter of Bolivian President Luis Arce raises his fist in front of the government palace in Plaza Murillo, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Carreta)
In his speech after the palace storming, Zuniga called for the release of political prisoners including Anez and powerful Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho, who was also arrested for allegedly orchestrating a coup in 2019.
Before his arrest, Zuniga told reporters that Arce had directly asked him to storm the palace and bring armored vehicles into downtown La Paz.
The president told me: The situation is very complex and very critical. “It is necessary to prepare something to raise my popularity.”
Even if proven false, the accusations of Arce’s involvement have stirred confusion and threatened further chaos.
Camacho wrote on the social networking site “X”: “Was it a media show on the part of the government itself, as General Zuniga says? Or was it just military madness? Or was it just another example of lack of control?”
Bolivian officials insisted that the general was lying to justify his actions. Prosecutors said they would seek a prison sentence of 15 to 20 years for Zuniga for “attacking the Constitution” pending further investigation.
But democracy advocates have already expressed doubts about the reliability of any government-led investigation.
“The independence of the judiciary is basically zero, and the credibility of the judiciary on the ground is zero,” said Juan Babiere, deputy Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Not only do we not know today what happened, we may never know.”
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De Bry prepared this report from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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